2.  THE YOUNG LOVERS

Notice the high and pure character of their love as shown in the facts that Florizel did not find it fitting to buy pedler’s “knacks” for Perdita,—­a trait not in Greene.  Her independent and uncringing nature as shown in another little touch of Shakespeare (see IV. iv. 492-497).  Compare these two lovers with Ferdinand and Miranda in “The Tempest.”

3.  THE ORIGINALITY OF SHAKESPEARE’S AUTOLYCUS

For suggestions see Poet-lore, April, 1891. (’Notes and News.’) Compare the Hermes of the Homeric Hymn with the Autolycus and Sisyphos of mythology, also the folk-lore tales of the master-thief (Cox).  To discuss the probable originality with Shakespeare of a conception which is one of the universal inheritances of the Aryan race is futile; the type existed, and Shakespeare’s part was to make an individual of the type.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Leontes’ jealousy too gross and unfounded to be likely?

Is Hermione, not hard, but slow to be satisfied, because her love is noble?

Is Mamillus not too precocious to be natural?

VII

A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT

Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a way as to unify the plot?  Does Autolycus contribute anything to the development of the plot?  How does it compare with “Julius Caesar” or “Macbeth,” for example, in the construction of the plot?  Is the movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first?  Note the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of time between the first part and the last part; compare with other examples of the same sort in Shakespeare.

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Does the dramatic interest of ‘The Winter’s Tale’ suffer because the plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters.

VIII

SHAKESPEARE’S WORKMANSHIP IN “THE WINTER’S TALE”

The versification is that of Shakespeare’s latest group of plays.  Dowden says, “No five-measure lines are rhymed and run on lines, and double endings are numerous.”  Give examples of the construction of the lines from “Love’s Labour’s Lost” as an earlier play, “Merchant of Venice” as a riper play.  It has been said that the difficulties of style in the play are accounted for by the endeavor of the author to reflect the changing moods of Leontes.  Compare with Prospero’s diction and construction in “The Tempest.”  Give examples of these.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does the lawlessness of poetic workmanship in “The Winter’s Tale,” together with the looseness of the dramatic construction, show a deterioration from the ripe power of Shakespeare’s middle period, or that practised artistic mastery which is free from art by means of perfect art?